The bill (Substitute Senate Bill 5905) amends RCW 41.40.023 and creates a new statutory section to address public employees' retirement system (PERS) membership for port district employees who participate in certain other retirement programs. It clarifies that employees who participate in any federal retirement system, including the federal railroad retirement system, are not eligible for and are not required to participate in PERS for the same period of service. It also states legislative intent to resolve ambiguity in RCW 53.08.170 about a port district’s authority to contribute to a private pension plan and declares that employees covered by a private Taft‑Hartley defined benefit pension plan while employed by a port district on or after January 1, 1965, are exempt from PERS participation. The bill reflects a legislative finding that a port district’s September 2023 decision to join PERS unintentionally included certain railroad employees due to a mutual mistake. The amendment and new section therefore operate as a statutory clarification of eligibility and exemption rules for PERS membership for affected port district employees and reference federal and private pension plans (Federal Railroad Retirement Act plans, Taft‑Hartley plans, and union‑sponsored defined benefit plans). The text supplied also quotes and references existing membership definitions, options, deadlines, and administrative procedures in RCW 41.40.023 and related statutes—such as 30‑day election periods for certain chief administrative officers, options to establish service credit by payment under RCW 41.50.165(2), refund rules on withdrawal, and rules concerning participation in employer 401 plans—but the extract does not make clear which of those provisions the bill changes versus which are reproduced for context. The supplied material is incomplete: the actual new section created by the bill is not included, the quoted RCW 41.40.023 text is truncated, and specific amendment language isolating what is being changed versus quoted context is not provided, so details about administrative implementation and the precise statutory edits remain uncertain.

If enacted, the bill will remove certain port employees from PERS membership when those workers are covered by the federal railroad retirement system or by a Taft-Hartley defined benefit plan to which the port makes employer contributions, clarifying that those employees are not eligible for and are not required to participate in PERS for the same periods of service. Practically, port districts should see lower PERS membership counts and reduced employer PERS contribution obligations for those covered employees, the Department of Retirement Systems will need to stop or reverse PERS enrollment for affected individuals, and the affected employees will remain covered only by their federal or private pension plans rather than earning PERS service credit for those periods. The bill explicitly responds to a September 2023 mutual mistake when a port district joined PERS and included railroad employees, and it treats Taft-Hartley coverage while employed by a port on or after January 1, 1965 as an exemption from PERS. Important implementation details are missing from the provided text, including how already-collected PERS contributions or service credits will be handled and the administrative steps DRS and port districts must take to adjust records, so the timing and exact financial adjustments remain uncertain.